Affordable housing efforts gain traction and attention

Should all the projects currently in the city of Sarasota's affordable housing planning pipeline be approved and built, it will add 596 residential units priced in the affordable and attainable range to the city’s housing stock.

That doesn’t include projects already approved and  in some phase of development that have taken advantage of the city’s new attainable housing ordinances, which will bring 144 affordable units among a total of 1,030 residences across six projects in or near downtown.

It’s those results that prompted the Florida League of Cities to recently honor Sarasota with its 2024 Local Action Award in recognition of the city's attainable housing density bonus program.

Moving their way through the city’s planning process are eight projects with an affordable housing component that total 1,327 apartments, nearly half of them affordable by definition. Two of those are Sarasota Housing Authority developments, one by Habitat for Humanity and one by affordable housing developer One-Stop Housing, all of which are 100% affordable units. 

The city’s incentive program, although still in its infancy, includes 42 affordable units among three projects under review plus the 144 among five more developments, some of which are already under construction.

“It was really rewarding because we recognize this program has tremendous possibilities and we're already seeing some results in terms of projects,” said Sarasota Planning Director Steven Cover of the award. "When we first started this, no one believed that we'd ever be able to get attainable housing in the downtown area just because of the cost of land, but we're getting projects in the downtown area.”

And beyond downtown.

Two projects underway, Bahia Vista Apartments and Bath & Racquet Club, stepped out ahead of the curve. In negotiating for additional density, those projects included affordable and attainable units in their developments prior to the City Commission's approval of an incentive program for commercial corridors and centers, one similar to that of the downtown zone districts. 

Bahia Vista is building 25 affordable units in its 250-unit development. Bath & Racquet is including 33 affordable units among 256 total residences. The affordable units will be rentals while the remainder will be sold as condominiums.

Among other cost-cutting incentives, the city’s affordable housing bonus density program provides that 15% of all bonus units be reserved for residents in three income tiers: 80% or below, 100% or below and 120% or below area median income. That comes to about 11% of the total units in a development priced as such. 

Downtown zone districts were targeted first because of the dearth of workforce housing for young professionals and service workers there. The ordinance for commercial centers and corridors followed suit. 

“This is going to be a very steady process, which is what we wanted,” Cover said. “Over time, these numbers of units will increase, especially in the downtown area. It really is going to make a difference for a lot of people who are working downtown. Our program has provided some incentives for projects to come in, and they're including attainable housing. 

"Before that, we weren’t getting anything.”